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People on anonymous internet forums are the worst. This comes as news to no one, I know. But here’s why I’m bringing it up right now:

Last week I released a new magic effect called Filter. It’s a trick in which you push quarters through the side of a drinking glass—they melt right through. At least, that’s how it looks.

I’ve been working on this trick for years, and I’d like to think it’s damn good. And most people seem to agree. Filter has fooled a lot of smart magicians and has also gotten praise from non-magic sources, like theawesomer.com and coolthings.com. On the trick’s theory11.com product page, the reviews read like this:

“Pure perfection. Rick has thought out everything in this trick and as always his explanations are very clear. You wont be disappointed with this.”

“Awesome! Best coin through glass EVER! Clever and simple, and that makes it so diabolical. Easy to do. Great teaching. Get it now!”

But the comments on a different magicians’ website are…different. They read like this:

“Honestly, what a terrible looking trick.”

“Another poor version of an old trick that's way too overpriced.”

“If you keep putting s**t like this out there for 20 bucks ... your career will be short lived buddy.”

They’re all discussing the same trick. So what gives?

Well, for starters, the second website is all about exposure. In other words, it’s about revealing the secrets to magic tricks. And the sad part is, it’s run by magicians. Also, on the second website, almost all users post anonymously. They create usernames and profiles that bear no relationship to their real names, so they feel safe saying nasty, untrue things.